Apple Continues Sports Push With Bid on MLB's Sunday Night Baseball

There's a swell of MLB fans who loathe AppleTV+ coverage, and generally either comes down to presentation, commentators abilities and/or neutrality, or paying an additional service after paying a tonne for a sports package elsewhere. Maybe that last one is a league problem to figure out? I think there's a way in the broadcast to at least switch audio to either team's radio calls, but people get very much attached to style/announcers, and change is tough.

Change is tougher for tradition-bound stick-and-ball sports fans than almost anyone else. And you are right about MLB. They need a Come to Jesus talk - or perhaps have their antitrust exemption revoked. The Blackout Rule is the first thing that needs to go.

They need better commentators.

There's a swell of MLB fans who loathe AppleTV+ coverage, and generally either comes down to presentation, commentators abilities and/or neutrality, or paying an additional service after paying a tonne for a sports package elsewhere. Maybe that last one is a league problem to figure out? I think there's a way in the broadcast to at least switch audio to either team's radio calls, but people get very much attached to style/announcers, and change is tough.

But their visual presentation is top notch... MLBAM (mlb.tv) is no slouch when it comes to streaming, but the bitrate and resolution of the ATV+ broadcast is top notch. I also enjoy no commercials between innings with just the ballpark sounds and the half-inning where they also do just the ballpark sounds.

Like what's happening with the F1 USA broadcast rights, I suspect that each sport is using Apple as a stalking horse against the incumbent rightsholder. For both F1 and Sunday Night Baseball that rightsholder is ESPN/Disney, which terminated its current MLB contract early. MLS found out the hard way that providing Apple full exclusivity is like killing your brand simply because there aren't enough viewers on the streaming platform. And if you don't partner with ESPN, you're shooting yourself in the foot. Apple TV+ may provide more money, not enough against disappearing mindshare. Like it or not, ESPN is king.

Somehow, no one learned from the NHL signing with Comcast and the Outdoor Life Network (OLN, later Versus, now NBCSN) that the upfront cash isn't worth the longterm loss of exposure.

There's a swell of MLB fans who loathe AppleTV+ coverage, and generally either comes down to presentation, commentators abilities and/or neutrality, or paying an additional service after paying a tonne for a sports package elsewhere. Maybe that last one is a league problem to figure out? I think there's a way in the broadcast to at least switch audio to either team's radio calls, but people get very much attached to style/announcers, and change is tough.

You can definitely use the team’s radio calls and it’s perfectly in sync. I was pleasantly surprised when I realized you could do that. I use it whenever the Mets are on Apple TV.

Like what's happening with the F1 USA broadcast rights, I suspect that each sport is using Apple as a stalking horse against the incumbent rightsholder. For both F1 and Sunday Night Baseball that rightsholder is ESPN/Disney, which terminated its current MLB contract early. MLS found out the hard way that providing Apple full exclusivity is like killing your brand simply because there aren't enough viewers on the streaming platform. And if you don't partner with ESPN, you're shooting yourself in the foot. Apple TV+ may provide more money, not enough against disappearing mindshare. Like it or not, ESPN is king.